Chase the threads in the head bolt holes in the block all the way to to the bottom, preferably with a bottoming tap. It is possible that some crud is in the bottom of a few holes that prevented 1 or more head bolts from fully seating, even with the proper torque. Also, measure/compare the head bolts to each others to make sure you don't have one stretched.
I would not expect head gasket issues with the Mr Gasket gaskets IF the heads and block have indeed been milled to good flatness. But something is up that made the head gasket not seal.... shim gaskets seal fine if all is good. IMHO, you would be wise to borrow a known very straight flat edge and check the head and gasket surfaces for flatness within +/-.002", regardless of them being machined; things get messed up.
Pulled the driver side head off, it looks like maybe the copper coat didn’t set? Thoughts? Also, anyone know if they require the registration bolts on the heads to be removed to use shim gaskets? I noticed that water passage I block on the front and not the rear? I ask because it appears to only go one way.
That makes 100% sense.... the coolant flows back through the block and then up and forward through the heads. So forward top hole should indeed be blocked.
